BANGERTER SECOND TERM WON'T BE EASY

He and his wife, Colleen, are fine, good people and, along with their campaign manager, Dave Buhler, should be congratulated on what some would call an upset.But the election is over. Now the work of the governor's second term begins.

And when you look, critically, at what awaits him, you wonder why Bangerter wanted the job.

There's one big sigh of relief for the governor - he doesn't have to deal with the effects of the tax-cutting initiatives. All three went down in defeat.

However, he will have to deal, in some form, with their remnants.

It was the tax protesters and their man Merrill Cook - not Democrat Ted Wilson - who gave Bangerter the most pain these past two years. And they probably aren't going to let up.

The governor's challenges go beyond that, however.

Any of the three men in the governor's race would be a minority governor if he won. That is, none could have gotten more than 50 percent of the vote.

Bangerter won with 40 percent. Wilson got about 38 percent and Cook about 21 percent of the ballots cast.

While Wilson would have been a minority governor as well, if he'd succeeded, he wouldn't be carrying the political baggage and ill-feelings that await Bangerter.

In September, a Deseret News/KSL-TV poll showed that 50 percent of Utahns disapproved of the job Bangerter was doing as governor, 48 percent approved.

Some of that 50 percent may have changed their minds about Bangerter's performance during the campaign. But campaigns usually polarize people's opinions, not moderate them.

So Bangerter may well start his second term with only 40 percent of the voters wanting him and most Utahns thinking he isn't doing a good job.

Not an enviable position to be in.

Add to that the real dislike that some of the tax protesters feel for the governor, and you can see that Bangerter has no mandate from Utahns to run this state.

In a gracious speech early Wednesday morning, Bangerter said he wants to work with all Utahns to move the state forward.

But the question remains on who is going to extend the hand of friendship first.

One of Bangerter's aides, in a joking manner, told me several weeks ago: "We're keeping track of all the people who opposed us, and we're going to remember."

Now, Bangerter is no Richard Nixon. There's no enemies list in the governor's office. But Bangerter and his aides have taken a lot of criticism - some from normally loyal Republicans - this past year.

They've been called names, told they couldn't win, and that they should be out looking for jobs.

But they did win. And it's natural that they should harbor some ill will toward their tormentors.

We'll see if Bangerter seeks peace with the Utah Education Association, Utah Public Employees Association, AFL-CIO, hunting and conservation groups, even Cook and the tax protesters.

Or will he just go back to work and wait for those groups to call him.

He's the governor of all the people, even if only 40 percent voted for him. Time will tell if old wounds fester, or if they're opened - even though that is painful -cleansed, and allowed to heal.